Friedrich Breyer, Christian Breunig, Mark Kapteina, Guido Schwerdt, Maj-Britt Sterba
{"title":"Between Beveridge and Bismarck: Preferences for redistribution through public pensions","authors":"Friedrich Breyer, Christian Breunig, Mark Kapteina, Guido Schwerdt, Maj-Britt Sterba","doi":"10.1016/j.jeoa.2025.100570","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine preferences for redistribution in Germany’s public pension system as well as notions of fairness of the system, using survey and experimental data from citizens and politicians. Our findings reveal a widespread rejection of strict proportionality between contributions and benefits, with strong support for greater redistribution to low earners. Information on inequalities in life expectancy reduces perceived fairness and increases support for redistribution among voters and politically moderate legislators. The study also reveals significant knowledge gaps about the basic features of the existing pension scheme among citizens. We demonstrate that policy-relevant information influences fairness perceptions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":45848,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Economics of Ageing","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100570"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the Economics of Ageing","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X25000258","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"DEMOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We examine preferences for redistribution in Germany’s public pension system as well as notions of fairness of the system, using survey and experimental data from citizens and politicians. Our findings reveal a widespread rejection of strict proportionality between contributions and benefits, with strong support for greater redistribution to low earners. Information on inequalities in life expectancy reduces perceived fairness and increases support for redistribution among voters and politically moderate legislators. The study also reveals significant knowledge gaps about the basic features of the existing pension scheme among citizens. We demonstrate that policy-relevant information influences fairness perceptions.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of the Economics of Ageing (JEoA) is an international academic journal that publishes original theoretical and empirical research dealing with the interaction between demographic change and the economy. JEoA encompasses both microeconomic and macroeconomic perspectives and offers a platform for the discussion of topics including labour, health, and family economics, social security, income distribution, social mobility, immigration, productivity, structural change, economic growth and development. JEoA also solicits papers that have a policy focus.